Myths about God's plans for my life

Today is Wednesday, which just so happens to be my favorite day of the week.  Why is Wednesday my favorite day of the week?  3 Reasons; it will be one of my days off, 5 cent wings at the local pub,  and my young adult group (small group for young adults, go figure) meets today.  The small group is led by a couple who are around 30 years old.  The girl, Debbie, is pregnant with her 4th child, all of which are boys, around 2, 4, and 6.  Anyway, they are both really awesome people and I love them both.  Last week I actually was asked to lead the lesson because they were busy and to my surprise it went really well and the others in my group listened.  I'll talk more about the group specifically some other time and how my leading went some other time too.

Today, I just want to briefly mention some of the myths that people (and occasionally myself) have about how God speaks or shows his plan for our life.  These ideas come from the book that my group is working through: Connect the Dots.  The first myth is that God opens and closes doors.  Now this is obviously not a complete myth but many times people put too much stock in it.  Yes, God can open doors but every open door is not necessarily from God.  Instead we should look at open doors and make judgments.  Maybe take a step inside and make sure that they are ok and make sure that they are both honoring to God and honoring to my character.  Satan has the power to open doors that may look good or feel good.  The real point is that we can't always say that just because a door is open it is good.  Sometimes we need to test the door and make sure that it is right.

The second method that we all use is the "fleece" method.  We see Gideon using this method in Judges 6:36-40.  Here Gideon clearly tests God and is shown what to do.  We cannot limit God in this way.  God has the right to do what he want -- after all he is the creator.  We cannot always test God in this way.  If we could, then faith would be completely pointless because we would all be putting fleeces outside in order to know God's will.  Instead, God wants us to use common sense.  Gideon did not have the Bible, God's word as we do.  We are supposed to be in constant study of God's word so that we can make a decision based on what we know.  God may me all knowing, but he still gives us the freedom of choice, however that works I don't know, all I know is that if I think about it too much it makes my brain want to explode.  I believe that sometimes God wants us to make decisions by faith.  He wants us to make choices ourselves.  However, when we make choices ourselves I think that we are also supposed to believe that we are not alone.

This is actually something I learned freshman year.  To be completely honest I do not like Steve DeNeff.  I am sorry, but there is something about the way he preaches or something that I do not like.  However, when I was a freshman, during fall semester he was the summit speaker (summit is a time that we can choose to go to chapel and get a heightened experience of God).  I think then I only went to one of the optional summits.  As a freshman I was seriously wondering what major I should take.  I had signed up for computer science but was really unsure (as are a lot of freshman) as to if that was what I was supposed to be doing.  Something that Steve said spoke to me at a spiritual level.  He said that sometimes we need to make decisions based on faith.  He said that we have the right to choose and sometimes God gives us the choice to do what we want.  However, when we choose to do what we want we are supposed to know that no matter what God is with us.  God will never leave us or forsake us.  I truly believe that there are situations in our lives where our choices are completely up to us.  We have to make decisions knowing that no matter what we choose God will be with us.  He will be our strength when we doubt our decisions.  He will be our perseverance when we think that we can't go on.  This is living a faithful life.  This is the life we need to live.

There are a number of other methods that we sometimes use to figure out God's will but I think that I have said enough for now.  The end result is that we need faith.  We cannot ask God for answers until we have faith in ourselves and in Him.  We need to believe that he is with us no matter what.  We also need to be able to accept that sometimes God wants us to make decisions knowing that he has our back when things get tough.  We need to love God so that we can experience His love.  We need to trust God so that we can make decisions.  God is with us whatever we do.  As a matter of fact, he is still there when we make bad decisions.  He is even there when we sin, no matter how much we wish that he wasn't.

Your friend, brother, and companion in Christ,
Zachary A. Haas